What? No tax revolt?

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Why isn't there a tax revolt in McHenry County?

When your home's value drops 25-30% and your real estate property tax goes up 15.7%, isn't it way past time to scream, "Enough!"

Show up at City Hall, the County Board, your fire station, and especially at the School Board and TELL them you are fed up. Tell them you want to see some meaningful cuts and reductions in pay for employees, so that your taxes go down and you can still afford to live in McHenry County. Tell them that, if they don't figure out a way to cut expenses, then you'll vote in somebody who will!

Look at what the school district sucks out of your wallet, and yet they want even more from the State (which comes from you).

Learn how the "system" works, and work to change it. You can't control the value of your home. You've heard of Fair Market Value; right? That's what a willing buyer pays a willing seller. Note the keyword: willing.

Right now it's a buyer's market. Sellers feel like they are getting ripped off.

But just fighting for a lower assessed valuation is not the whole answer, because the taxing authorities have figured out how to rip the same number (or more) dollars out of your pockets. And that's why your house price can go down and your property taxes can go up!

Why are those clerks needed at the payment window at the courthouse to take your $100 fine for speeding plus $150-175 for "court costs and fees"? Why not just put a barcode on your fine sheet from a judge's clerk and go downstairs to an ATM and pay your fine? Or pay it online? Kind of adds insult to injury, doesn't it, when a $50,000/year clerk behind the window takes your money.

But it's also important to challenge the level of "court costs and fees". The County Board (that's your County Board - the McHenry County Board) and the State legislature (and you know who your reps are from this area) are the ones responsible for the $150-175 added to your fine. The judges will tell you, "Don't get mad at me (the judge) or the women downstairs at the payment windows."

The judges have to know that the financial damage of a fine for a Guilty verdict is small potatoes, compared to the court costs and fees. They just can't do anything about it. You can!

It will take relentless pressure on elected officials to get a change. A few griping letters to the editor and phone calls won't do it. If we want to pay less, then we must do with less.